Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week, it’s the News Shotgun.
Isabela Merced starring in House of the Dead: Director Paul WS Anderson is writing and directing a new adaptation of Sega’s classic arcade light gun franchise House of the Dead and Isabela Merced was revealed this week to be signed on to star. Sega is fully behind this new version, and the plot is apparently going to play out in real time over the movie’s runtime. The franchise was previously infamously adapted by Uwe Boll during his run of terrible, barely recognizable video game adaptations.
Baldur’s Gate 3 TV series in development: Joining The Last of Us on HBO, that show’s showrunner, Craig Mazin, is developing an adaptation/continuation of Baldur’s Gate 3 as a TV series. The new show will pick up after the game’s events, featuring the game’s characters alongside new characters created for the show. Mazin is writing, executive producing, and showrunning the new series with HBO, in conjunction with Hasbro, which owns the D&D/Wizards of the Coast brand. Former Head of Story at Wizards of the Coast, Chris Perkins, will serve as a consultant to the series.
Dark Winds renewed for Season 5: AMC’s drama series has been renewed for a fifth season ahead of Season 4’s February 15th debut. The series is based on Tom Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee crime novels, with Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, and Jessica Matten starring as Navajo Tribal Police officers investigating violent crimes in the 1970s. The fourth season will follow the disappearance of a Navajo girl, prompting Leaphorn (McClarnon) and Chee (Gordon) to travel to Los Angeles.
Upcoming exorcism thriller Blasphemous finds cast: The upcoming exorcism horror thriller Blasphemous has secured its main cast, with Karen Gillan, Josh Hutcherson, and Clive Owen signed on to star. The movie follows a pair of priests (Hutcherson and Owen) who are tasked with transporting a woman (Gillan) suspected of being possessed to a secure location for an exorcism, but she escapes. Luke Piotrowski, who wrote The Night House, is writing and directing Blasphemous.
New Luther movie adds cast members: Several new cast members will join Idris Elba in the new Luther movie for Netflix. Stephen Dillane, Anya Chalotra, Kyle Soller, Ian Hart, and Niamh Algar were announced as having signed on to the movie, joining Elba, Ruth Wilson, and Dermot Crowley. Series creator Neil Cross wrote the script for the new film, and series director Jamie Payne is directing.
New Exorcist movie adds Chiwetel Ejiofor: Mike Flanagan is assembling an impressive cast for his new Exorcist movie, with Chiwetel Ejiofor joining the cast this week. Scarlett Johansson, Jacobi Jupe, and Diane Lane were previously announced to star. Ejiofor recently worked with Flanagan on his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck. The new Excorist movie is scheduled for theatrical release on March 12th, 2027.
Eragon assembles creative team: Disney+’s upcoming adaptation of Eragon, aka The Inheritance Cycle, has assembled its main creative team. Marc Webb, who most recently directed Snow White for Disney, is an executive producer, and High Potential showrunner Todd Harthan is co-creating the series with author Christopher Paolini. Harthan will also co-run the series with Todd Helbing, who was the showrunner on Superman & Lois.
Texas Chainsaw franchise heads to A24: A24 has acquired the franchise rights to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series and is now developing a TV series and film. Glenn Powell is an executive producer on the projects, and Kim Hankel, who co-wrote the original Texas Chainsaw film, is also an executive producer. JT Mollner, who most recently directed The Long Walk, is directing the TV series. There are no details yet about plot or casting for either project.
Nightwatching adds new cast members: The upcoming thriller Nightwatching has added two new cast members, with Fallout’s Aaron Moten and Clancy Brown. Mila Kunis and Corey Hawkins were initially cast to star, and Pat Healy, Marc Webber, Grace Kelly Quigley, and Duke McCloud were previously cast. The movie is based on Tracy Sierra’s novel and follows Lee, a young mother who awakens during a massive winter storm to find an intruder in her home and must fight to protect her children.
Blood Aces TV series in development: Sylvester Stallone and Cole Hauser are teaming up to adapt the non-fiction book Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker by Doug J. Swanson into a TV series. Hauser will play Benny Binion, who came to Las Vegas from Texas as a small-time hustler and became one of the city’s most infamous and successful casino owners, operating places like Binion’s Horseshoe and creating the World Series of Poker, while also bringing the National Finals Rodeo to Las Vegas. He also ran illegal gambling operations and murdered several rivals. MGM Television is also producing the series, so it will likely air on either MGM+ or Prime Video.
